


this rain is only temporary

by feedingtheflames



Category: Bleach
Genre: Jealousy, M/M, May contain spoilers, Misunderstandings, Pining, Slight Keigo/Ishida, Slight OC/Ishida
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-15
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2018-12-30 03:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12099501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feedingtheflames/pseuds/feedingtheflames
Summary: Ichigo frets and struggles with his feelings when confronted with the prospect of competition.





	1. freeze frame

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Bleach belongs to Kubo. I am merely borrowing the characters and setting for the sake of yaoi.

“Just wait a moment, Ichi-nii!” 

Ichigo halts during his movements to close the door, twisting his hand into a more comfortable position so it wouldn’t cramp up. He was already running late for morning football practice, not that he was actually bothered, but the team had paid him, so it would be pretty unjust not to show up.

He waits a little longer, impatience starting to get the better of him.

“Yuzu, I gotta go, what is it? Do you want me to get you something after school? Is there -” A container is brandished in front of his face and he stops, remembering that he’d left it in the fridge last night.

“Oh. Right, thanks Yuzu.”

“I can’t believe you forgot about your lunch” His sister admonished, staring up at him with furrows between her brows and hands on her hips. “You won’t be able to concentrate on an empty stomach, and then you’d make dad cry because of all your failed tests!” 

Ichigo fights the urge to roll his eyes, jeez what’s up with his _little_ sisters always trying to act like they were older than him. Shouldn’t he be the one giving advice? 

He reaches out a finger and pokes her on the forehead.

“You shouldn’t frown so much at your age, you’ll get wrinkles.” Turning around, he starts to run on the familiar route he’d taken for the past few years. Yuzu’s answering cry reaches his ears.

“You’re one to talk!”

OoO

His elbow twinges for the sixth time so staring hard at the joint Ichigo finally locates the source of his annoyance. _Hm, seems to be a splinter lodged in there. Ah well._

His teammates swarm the locker room, chatting excitedly about the injury the goalie had gotten as well as debating what exactly the answer to question 7 is on a Biology test. Some of them pause in their movements to call out praise or ask if he was coming to the upcoming practices. 

Shoving his towel into his locker, Ichigo trudges out of the gym after answering their questions half-heartedly; he struggles to remember whether the name of the last guy he’d replied to was Kai or Ken. 

An eyebrow twitches in annoyance as he rounds the corner leading to his classroom, bumping into a younger student who squeaks after taking a look at his face. Ichigo watches them pick up speed and scoffs. It just so happened that his expression was a everlasting frown, for awhile he’d in fact tried smiling but that only seemed to increase the fear, it didn’t help that this one time he managed to confuse the Karakura Superheroes into thinking he was Kon.

Knocking on the classroom door only greets him with silence so he steps into the room.

Empty

Huh, so he’d actually come early for once. Fourteen minutes to be exact after a quick glance at the clock, he’d never been so early to anything in his life. He wasn’t sure if he liked it.

After a minute or so, distant sounds rouse him from where his head lays pressed against his desk. Looking towards the open window, he moves closer and immediately matches faces to the voices he hears conversing in low tones - Chad and Ishida. 

Instinctively, he lowers his reiatsu further to peek down at the duo standing secluded by an old tree. 

“- Sado-kun, you can’t possibly be thinking that I tell him.” Ishida is flustered, more so than Ichigo has ever seen him. “I would never humiliate myself like that on purpose.”

Chad speaks slowly but firmly in answer, surprising Ichigo. If Chad was giving advice then this must be important.

“You’d be surprised at what he’ll say.”

A quick shake of the head leaves hair to come loose form behind the Quincy’s ear, Ichigo’s eyes linger on the way the strands frame that slender looking visage. He almost doesn’t hear the other boy respond as he recalls that face unguarded, raw with emotion, so far from the usual rigid manner.

If only he could obtain that for himself. The openness.

“I wasn’t planning on telling him...and I won’t. It’s better this way.” Ishida’s tone has changed into something Ichigo can’t place.

“You mean it’s easier this way, to not risk rejection. Feelings like this shouldn’t be kept to one person, so please talk to him.” 

Chad gives the shorter male a long measured stare before flicking his eyes upwards. The Shinigami barely ducks in time, moving back into his seat.

_That was close._

Feelings like this? Rejection? That sounded like...

OoO

The lesson is his favourite, an insight into character analysis of Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He should be giving his all in staying alert and engaged but somehow a different stream of words flutter about at the forefront of his mind instead of the ones on the board. 

Ishida liked someone. Ishida _liked_ someone. As in, he had feelings for someone. In fact, he liked a guy. Though, that didn’t seem at all unexpected. 

He lifts his head from staring at his notebook, from where he’d scrawled randomly to make it look like he was working to glower at the back of that raven head, eyeing the sleek locks and narrow shoulders. After staring for a while longer those shoulders stiffen, causing a smirk to appear on Ichigo’s face. It was so easy to rile him up. Fun too - even when Ishida managed to rile him up in return.

But who did Ishida like?

The smirk disappears.

Chad? No, it couldn’t be. It would be way too risky to ask for relationship advice from the guy you liked. Or at least, that’s what he’d seen in a drama Yuzu had made him watch. Besides, he was sure that they were speaking about someone else. The feeling had seemed genuine on the Quincy’s face, and for some reason that annoyed him. Why would Ishida like some guy? It couldn’t be someone in this classroom right?

For the first time in months, Ichigo focuses on the individuals sitting in their chairs. 

Studying them, he concentrates on exactly what traits they may have that appeal to the Quincy, was it something in their personalities and looks? Trying to figure it out is troubling itself; because Ishida is always maintaining a gracious facade to everyone he spoke to...everyone excluding himself it seemed. 

Bleh. As if he wanted Ishida to be nice to him. 

Copying down a few bullet points he goes back to his observation after grimacing at his handwriting. _Looks like I’ll be spending more time trying to decode what the hell I’ve written rather than actually doing homework. Ah well._

Mizuro? Whether it was due to all those girlfriends the guy had or because he didn’t seem Ishida’s type, it just didn’t ring any bells. Didn’t Ishida once introduce an upperclass girl to him too? 

What about that guy in Ishida’s archery class? The one who the Quincy spoke regularly to? He was tall and muscular and looked similar to Renji, so maybe that was Ishida’s type. But didn’t that guy already have someone...

Keigo? This one made Ichigo pause. 

After it was discovered that Ichigo’s friends were being affected by his powers, everyone had decided to be let in on knowing about Soul Society and what went on (with Tatsuki aggressively needling him about the dangers he’d brought to Orihime). 

And as much as it relieved Ichigo to be free of the burden of keeping his part time job a secret, it baffled him too. Urahara had insisted on having everyone stay close knit and offered work placements in his shop with a sly demeanour.

As stupid as the offer was, Keigo accepted and was placed into working shifts with Ishida. And Ichigo wouldn’t have known how well the two were getting along if it hadn’t been for Urahara, who remarked constantly about them with specific looks in Ichigo’s direction, once he’d given a strange line: “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”. Oddly enough, Urahara’s weird line would echo in his mind so he made frequent trips after school to the shop, much to the ex-Shinigami’s amusement.

_Man, but Ishida could like anyone though._ There were tons of guys he’d meet working at the shop too. Lost in his thoughts, Ichigo comes up with another consideration before he can stop it. 

Maybe Ishida liked – no, no. Not going there.

OoO

Curious looks are thrown at him as he waits outside the classroom, hands in his pockets, back pressed against the wall. 

Ichigo watches the door with feigned casualness, though inwardly he fumes at how long the other is taking. The rest of his classmates had cleared out instantly after the bell rang but the bespectacled boy had remained in his seat to speak to the teacher, neatly placing his things in his bag so unlike Ichigo’s crammed booklets and stationary. 

He’s sure he’s bent half the pages in his haste.

After what seems like aeons Ishida finally comes out...and proceeds to walk right past him, eyes locked onto his phone.

“Hey.” He tries to make his tone amicable but some of his annoyance at having to wait so long leaks into the word. The Quincy looks over his shoulder, waiting for him to continue.

“Come have lunch with us on the roof.”

Ishida rolls his eyes and sighs.

“You could at least phrase it as a question Kurosaki.”

“ _So?_ Is that a yes?”

Ishida sighs again, shifting his bag on his shoulder.

“I can’t.”

“What, why can’t you? We’re your friends aren’t we?” Ichigo’s tone has now become defensive; he pushes off of the wall to stand in front on the other, continuing to keep his hands in his pockets.

“Just because you happen to be my friends doesn’t mean I have to follow you on your every whim Kurosaki.”

“Well, why can’t you?”

“Why can’t I what? Follow you on your every whim or have lunch with you?” Ishida’s hand comes up to push his glasses upwards. The glint of his silver bracelet catches Ichigo’s eyes, half hidden underneath the dark sleeve of Ishida’s sweater and he is suddenly reminded of how much he dislikes it when Ishida hides himself behind that motion.

“I obviously meant the second one dammit Ishida!”

“Keep your voice down Kurosaki.” Ishida sighs once more, this time in exasperation. The trickle of students walking down the corridor has stemmed, but the few who do remain cast wary looks in their direction. Two girls are whispering excitedly to one another, every five seconds they curiously steal a look at them.

“Stop sighing!”

“Don’t tell me what to do!”

“Then don’t tell me to keep my voice down!”

“Fine, I’m leaving.” Ishida moves around Ichigo to exit the corridor’s doorway but a grip on his wrist stops him in his tracks and forcefully spins him backwards.

Ichigo doesn’t mean to pull so hard but evidently he has underestimated his strength, the shorter boy’s phone lands on the carpet with a dull thud, facing upwards while he himself stumbles into a warm chest. The Shinigami reacts, wrapping an arm around his waist to steady him.

One of the girls lets out a strangled squeal, much to his confusion.

They stay frozen, standing there like that. Every fibre of Ichigo’s being says he should do something, say something, but a clear command has yet to enter his mind. His thoughts stutter like white noise and it’s only the sharp slap of reality that draws him out of his state.

Ishida is pushing away from him, furiously tucking his hair back from his face to glare openly at him. The Quincy opens his mouth, no doubt to berate him on unwanted physical contact but is interrupted by a familiar notification sound.

They glance down at Ishida’s screen, which buzzes highlighted with a text and Ichigo catches sight of a name before it’s picked up.

Ishida looks as if he wants to continue but instead focuses back on his phone.

“We’ll speak later Kurosaki.”

The Shinigami is left stationed still with a hammering heart, wondering. _Just who the hell is Kenji?_


	2. show me a sign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo seethes and makes observations.

The air is cool.

It doesn’t bite at the skin but Ichigo knows if he touched his face, it would feel as if a mirror was moulded beneath flesh, alien, numb and excessively smooth. His breath streams above him like smoke from a faulty cigar and he leans his head backwards, eying the disarray of clouds. His lunch lays unfinished beside him and the chatter of his friends can only be heard as distant buzzing.

The Quincy’s refusal in the past hadn’t bothered him as much as it did now, now that it was paired with something else.

Ishida had always blown him off for the sake of pride (usually after an argument) or his sewing club, but today’s occurrence had him seemingly doing it for someone else’s sake. It pissed Ichigo off, being brushed off like that, well that and the way Ishida had been staring at the message on his phone as he hurried away. What was so great about this Kenji prick anyway?

“Oi, oi Ichigo.” Something pokes hard into his arm and he turns to see Tatsuki glowering at him behind an extended chopstick. “You tryna escape into the clouds or something? Stop sulking, you can’t have done that badly on the exam, right? Knowing you, you’d probably get good grades without revising.”

“Ah, I’m sure you didn’t perform as badly as Asano-san.” Mizuiro chimes in, smiling sweetly at the boy sitting next to him, who squawks indignantly, beginning to flail.

“What are you even _saying_?!” The smile remains on the small statured boy as he’s shaken by the arm. “I actually did well _and_ I revised beforehand. Stop acting like I’m stupid!”

“Ha, but you are!” Tatsuki taunts, pulling the brunette away from Mizuiro and into a headlock. “We all know you’re dead last, perv.”

“You’re just jealous I won’t perv on you. It’s because you look like a man. A _man_! _Kyaa_ -” His voice transforms into a cry as knuckles rub hard into his scalp.

Orihime looks worriedly between the squabbling pair and himself, caught between soothing Keigo and Tatsuki’s egos or asking questions. Already, she had seen through him and guessed the cause of his bad mood. Looking to her right, she fixes Chad with a pleading look, who nods, standing up slowly.

“Class will be starting soon.” With those words said, he makes his way to the rooftop’s door and soon, the others follow, Keigo’s head still trapped under the martial artist’s arm.

Last to leave is Orihime, lingering by his side, hands clasped together.

“Kurosaki-kun. Um, you know, Ishida-kun has been very busy lately. With the sewing club and his archery classes, not to mention exams. It must be stressful, because he always wants to do his best, even be better than best.” Bright eyes look at him hopefully. “But I’m sure he’ll join us for lunch soon, when he’s not busy. I’ll make something yum too, that way he’ll join us every day!”

Looking at her beaming smile, Ichigo doesn’t have the heart to tell her Ishida is more likely to get food poisoned then change schools to escape.

Instead, he smiles back.

“Yeah, I’m sure he will.”

Glad to have cheered him up, Orihime twirls to the door with a wave, telling him he should get to class soon. Spirits raised, Ichigo reasons that Ishida really must be busy and that this Kenji guy is just someone he’s helping with homework.

Peering through the rooftop railing, he takes a moment to watch students re-enter the school.

Something catches his attention.

Eyes zeroing on the familiar flash of lens and windswept hair, his mood instantly plummets at the sight of another figure. This guy is obviously in his personal space, yet Ishida doesn’t seem to mind, allowing the closeness with a smile. A smile! Ishida rarely smiles at him, yet this person has easily instilled a good mood from…taking his glare from the Quincy’s lips, he notices how the two are holding hands.

Wait, what?

The dark-haired stranger stands with his back to Ichigo, Ishida’s bare hands grasped within his own, which are adorned with brightly coloured gloves. The two speak for a bit, the stranger rubbing Ishida’s hands to keep them warm all the while, making Ichigo seethe, he knew that the Quincy got cold easily but wasn’t he annoyed, being babied like this?

_Maybe he likes having his hands held_ a voice slyly glides at the back of his head. He ignores it, keeping his attention on the duo.

Ishida’s companion says something that makes his eyes widen and to Ichigo’s oddly misplaced relief, the two break away from one another, heading into the building for class.

Ichigo remains on the rooftop, pulse rushing as anger commences to empower his thoughts.

_So_ , Ishida hadn’t been hard at work at all. Instead of being with his friends, he ditches them to hold hands. Instead of accepting his invitation, he was acting all cosy with some shithead - someone who the Shinigami now realises must be Kenji.

It wasn’t only that, he’s on a first name basis with the guy, listing him as ‘Kenji’ in his contacts. Tch. Knowing Ishida, the damn Quincy probably listed himself as ‘Kurosaki’ or ‘Shinigami’.  Or maybe he wasn’t in his contacts at all. The thought makes his stomach sink.

_Just what is Ishida playing at?_

Spirits low, he feels the same way he did earlier. Undeniably over his head.

OoO

A blockade between himself and freedom comes in the form of detention – he’d spent so long on the rooftop – and now his agitation was climbing skyscrapers and getting ready to jump right off. To fall and sink into even more agitation.

He just wants to go home.

Nodding impatiently at his teacher’s final reprimands, he makes his way towards his shoe locker. Busy swapping his school shoes for his usual trainers, the Shinigami doesn’t take much notice of the student that brushes past him to exit out the door.

“Hey! I hope you haven’t been waiting too long, Uryuu-kun.” At the mention of his friend, it takes all his willpower not to peer around the row closest to the exit, standing motionless as he listens for a response to the upbeat greeting.

“Not at all. I was speaking with a teacher, so I just got here a few minutes ago.” The familiarity in that tone bothers Ichigo for some reason.

“In that case, shall we go now?”

Listening as their footsteps fade, Ichigo emerges to watch them head towards the school gate. The sight of Ishida walking side by side and friendlily chatting with Kenji makes his thoughts buzz unpleasantly with questions. One question stands strikingly bold.

Were they…going on a _date_?

A better question was - should he follow them?

OoO

What kind of date was this?

He’d been shadowing them for about twenty minutes now and all they were doing was _talking_ , Ishida explaining something by the looks of it, considering Kenji was nodding along and paying attention to the gestures the other boy was making with his hands.

Fighting the urge to yawn, Ichigo tries to quell his boredom. It wasn’t very interesting when he didn’t know what they were discussing, for all he knew, Ishida could be telling Kenji what colour napkins he wanted at their wedding!

…okay, maybe not. But the point was that Ichigo was starting to regret his current life choices. The two of them were doing nothing to confirm his suspicions.

The pair then take a turn towards the shopping district, to which Ichigo speeds up, not wanting to lose sight of them. Turning the corner, he barely stops himself from rolling his eyes when he catches them walking into a certain shop.

_Of course._

Typical Ishida. Only he would take his date to a sewing store. Settling down onto a bench half-hidden from the store’s line of sight, Ichigo takes his phone out in hopes of looking busy. If Ishida comes out and happens to notice him, then he’d just say that he’s shopping for groceries or something.

Glancing into the shop’s window he notes how animatedly Ishida was acting, or at least, it was animated for Ishida. With Kenji, he was continuously looking at the other, smiling over the different fabrics, clearly happy.

_Ishida must really like him._

He begins jostling his leg up and down, tapping his nails on the bench’s armrest, trying and failing to ignore the uncomfortable lump in his throat. With himself, Ishida was always frowning or annoyed, being condescending or distant. Alright, so there were times when Ishida was easy to get along with, but that was usually when they were with the rest of their friends. When it was just the two of them, there was some weird barrier in place.

And more recently, Ishida was being even more distant. It was driving him near insane.

Taking a look back into the store, his resolve weakens at the sight of Kenji crowding Ishida against a shelf, laughing and trying to place a ribbon in his hair. Ishida was pushing his hands away, but from what it he could tell, the attempts were half-hearted.

He gets up, shoving his phone into his pocket.

Right now, he really just wants to go home.

OoO

He collapses into his bed.

After his brief stint of being a stalker, he’d run into a group of hollows. He should be able to sleep easily after that, but sleep just wouldn’t come his way.

Since the moment he’d left Ishida and that Kenji shithead, he felt strange, he felt oddly drained. It was starting to become apparent that this tiredness was something sleep couldn’t cure. Even though he’d gotten the information he’d come for by following Ishida, even though he’d found out who Ishida liked…

Somehow, it felt like he was giving up.

But more importantly – why did he care so much?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ichigo: should I follow them?  
> me: don’t  
> ichigo: *follows them*  
> me: wtf man  
> also me: *casually pretends I didn’t take a whole year to update* ~~I’m sorry~~


End file.
